“Five Northville middle school students are just tuning up in their campaign for an orchestra program at their school,” writes Beth Dalbey in Thursday’s (7/23) Norville Patch (Michigan). “Thwarted so far in their campaign, the five—Nicole Dobson, Vanessa Wojtalewicz, Fiona Berg, Grace Lapinski and Liliah Seluk—have appealed to Northville Public Schools Superintendent Mary Kay Gallagher to use her influence in establishing an orchestra. In a letter to the superintendent, they explained their campaign to bring a student orchestra to Northville started as an eighth-grade social studies assignment. The students were asked to develop a project that would solve a community problem.” The students wrote, “ ‘The Northville community needs an orchestra because many of the students have limited options, such as choir, art or band. Many young string musicians are lacking opportunity that students that pursue other interests have. This is unfair and unjust, and may cause string musicians to lean towards other communities that already offer in-school string orchestras.’ … Additionally, an orchestra would … help students sharpen their math and problem-solving skills.… According to a Hometownlife.com report, the district isn’t likely to approve the request due to financial constraints [and] a demand for more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and language classes.”
Posted July 28, 2015
